Henan farmers abandon crops on roadside

Farmers abandoned an abundant amount of vegetables such as spinach and celery on the side of roads and in fields in a county in Zhengzhou, Henan province, because they were unable to sell their crops, Dahe Daily reported on Thursday.

Wang Sumei, an official with the local rural affair committee, said a specific reason for the dumpings has yet to be identified, adding that it could be possible that more vegetable farms in other provinces have put financial pressure on farmers in Henan.

Vegetable growers have complained that selling about 20 kilograms of vegetables fetch only 8 yuan ($1.25), which they said was hardly enough to buy a bowl of stewed noodles common in the province. Bian Junjie, a vegetable grower, said his farm earned about 3,000 yuan per 0.07 hectare of land by planting celery last year. This year so far, earnings have dropped.

"The celery was only sold 0.4 yuan ($0.06) per kilogram compared with the price of 1.4 yuan to 2.6 yuan last year. I had no choice but to abandon them in the fields," Bian said.